Where You Lead Trilogy
by Vashti
Summary: "I swear I wasn't hiding my child from you. Not purposeful- Well, not vindictively, like I didn't want you to know that they existed." "Ha! But it was on purpose." -Set post IM2
1. Where You Lead

**Title**: Where You Lead  
**Author**: Vashti  
**Fandom**: Iron Man 2  
**Characters**: Pepper Potts, Tony Stark, OC  
**Rating**: PG  
**Summary**:"I swear I wasn't hiding my child from you. Not purposeful- Well, not vindictively, like I didn't want you to know that they existed." "Ha! But it was on purpose."  
**Length**: ~2,300 words  
**Disclaimer**: Only the words are mine, and that's probably up for philosophical debate.  
**Distribution**: Want? Ask.  
**Author's Note**: Story title from the re-recorded "Where You Lead I Will Follow" by Carole King, sung with her daughter Louise Goffin.

* * *

"Ms. Potts? Ms. Potts, are you here?" The young woman at the door made further headway into the apartment. Worry drawing her brows together, she raised her voice: _"Ms. Potts? Are you ho—"_

_"I'm here, Sof. On the balcony!"_

The young woman, Sophie, visibly relaxed as she hustled through the apartment, hitching her bag higher on her shoulder as she went. Pepper Potts was sliding the glass balcony door closed behind her as she was clearing the last hallway into the living room.

"Ms. Potts."

"It's okay, Sof. There's no one else here. It's just us."

"Oh, Mom!"

* * *

Pepper braced herself, knowing exactly what kind of reception to expect when her daughter showed up at her apartment unannounced, but not unexpected, after what had happened at the Stark Expo. Still, she staggered back as her 130 lbs 5'5" daughter barreled into her. Bags dropped at their feet as the young woman hugged her tightly. Hot tears were leaving a stain on the collar of her very expensive blouse, but she didn't care. She needed this as much as Sophie did.

"I booked the first plane I could get to the West Coast as soon as I saw the news," was muttered against the crook of her neck. It should have tickled.

Pepper carded her daughter's dark auburn hair. "I'm glad you came, but you didn't have to do that, sweetheart. I'm fine. Which I thought I made pretty clear in the fifty or so text messages we've been exchanging for the last twenty-four hours."

The young woman shifted in her mother's arms so that her chin was resting on Pepper's shoulder. "Mom, seriously? You end up in your _second_ life or death situation because of Stark Industries and I'm supposed to stay home? You're not the only efficient one in this family. I can totally text and check flights at the same time."

"Oh, is New York home now?" Pepper said, ignoring the less pertinent parts of her daughter's dialogue.

The young woman pinked. "Not _home_ home. You're home. And I can't stay in New York forever. Do you know how cold it gets out there?"

"Says the girl who spent her first six years of her life in Iowa."

"But," Sophie continued as if her mother hadn't spoken, "it is the place where I spend, like, eighty percent or more of my life right now."

"I see. You know you could have pursued your Masters at Berkeley and been back in California a lot sooner."

"Look, Mom, we both know... Hey!" She pushed herself back a bit, so that she more closely resembled a petite, dark-haired twenty-something instead of a rather large parasitic creature that cried a lot. "I see what you're doing."

Pepper gave her a thoughtful expression. "And what might that be?"

"You're trying to distract me from fretting about your narrow escape from life and death situations."

"She's actually pretty good at that."

Both women turned, Pepper's arm tightening reflexively around her daughter's shoulders.

* * *

"Um..." Tony waved the over-large bouquet in his hands as if to indicate the entire room, or all of them, or all of himself. He wasn't sure what he was indicating, really, and the expression on both women's faces were growing ever more skeptical the longer he stood there flinging the flowers around. Plus it was a good way to lose a couple in awkward places. Like that one that landed on a low-slung couch. Actually that wasn't too bad...

"Yeah, uh," Tony cleared his throat and tried again. "Sorry to interrupt this time of, y'know, smooches and cuddles, but the door was open. I kinda presumed that was for me."

Pepper frowned. "You were coming over?"

"Not, you know, _officially_ or anything. But I happened to be in the neighborhood-"

"Since when do you know where I live?"

"Why, Virginia Potts, I sign your checks. Of course I know where you live."

Pepper snorted. "_I_ sign my checks, Tony. Or I did before I became CEO. Now Cyril from the Board does it."

"Ew, Cyril? You remember to check for cooties before you cash it, right?"

Pepper rolled her eyes and the young woman, still in her arms, chuckled. "They're electronic, Tony."

"Still. Cyril." He shuddered. "So. Pep. Didn't know you were playing both sides against each other. I guess these flowers are a little... Because, I mean, I can see that you have company." Tony noted the bags at the women's feet. "Rather permanent company. So, I'm thinking it looks like you, y'know, want to be alone with this semi-permanent company that I was not told about or invited to.

"You know, if you'd just told me that you swing both ways I could have totally-"

"Tony!"

The young woman in Pepper's arms had her face buried in Pepper's side, but it was clear that she was laughing. Every now and then a snort or an over-quick inhale gave her away. Pepper looked down at her. "Sof, be good."

The young woman tightened her grip on Pepper for a moment. "Yes, Mom."

Tony fumbled with the bouquet in his hands. "Mom?"

A resigned smiling pulling at her mouth, and her hands pulling at her daughter, Pepper introduced them: "Tony, I'd like you to meet my one and only daughter, Sophie Hélène Potts. Sof, this is Mr. Anthony Stark—"

"What, I don't get a middle name? She got a middle name. I want a middle name."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Anthony _Edward_ Stark, which I thought you hated, Tony."

He scoffed. "I'm just saying, if she gets one then I get one."

"Of course, Tony."

"And, yes, 'Edward' is my actual middle name," he said to Sophie, watching the exchange with perhaps too much politeness. "Terrible, right? Just blows."

"Or Tony Stark as he's better known," Pepper interjected before he could go any further.

"Or Iron Man," he couldn't help but add.

"That, too," Pepper conceded. She pushed her daughter forward a little out of habit. She hardly needed the prompting; Sophie took the hand Tony offered her and shook it with firm confidence. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Mr. Stark. Obviously, I've heard a lot about you."

"Obviously," he agreed. "And just as obvious that I haven't heard much at all about you."

"Of course." They were still shaking hands, mostly because Tony wouldn't let go, but Sophie didn't seem to mind.

"And you're also..." He gave her a quick, appraising look. "A fully grown, adult-model of a child?"

"I am, sir. I see your powers of-"

_"Sof."_

Flashing him a quick smile as her ears reddened, Sophie extricated her hand from Tony's and returned to her mother's side. Looking at her fondly, Pepper said, "Take your bags to your room and get settled. You're staying for the week, it looks like?"

"That's about right."

"You cleared it with your professors?"

"Most of it is independent study. They don't care if they see me for two weeks. More."

"_Sophie..._"

"Yes, I cleared it with everyone. I swear, you're such a mom!"

Pepper smiled. "I love you, too, sweetheart." She leaned down and kissed her daughter's forehead, upturned at just the right moment to be kissed. "I'll come get you and we'll go out for lunch, okay?"

"I take it there's nothing cooked."

Pepper raised an eyebrow.

"So glad I didn't eat that extra bag of airplane peanuts." She turned to Tony. "It was nice meeting you, sir."

Tony, who's eyes still hadn't come back from saucer-wide, nodded. "Uh, yeah. Sure. Likewise. I'd love to meet me if I were you."

Sophie spared her mother another look, then left the room.

* * *

Tony rounded on Pepper as soon as Sophie left, but she held out a hand to forestall him. The hand didn't drop until there was a telltale click in the distance. "Okay, Tony."

"You're a mom?!"

Pepper shrugged. "A little."

"That looks like more than a little." Eyes narrowed, Tony said, "How long?"

"Mmm, for about the last, oh, twenty-two years or so."

Tony's eyebrows climbed into his hairline. "Were you going to tell me?"

"Until recently, it wasn't really any of your business." Pepper crossed her arms over her chest.

"Um, yeah. It was."

"Says who?"

"You're my personal assistant—"

"I _was_ your personal assistant. Now I run your company."

"—what if this kid thing kept you from personally assisting me?"

"Sof was across the country in college by the time I started working for you. And, again, it's not really any of your business in regards to work. Ask our legal department."

Tony scoffed. "I just might do that. Never." He had also crossed his arms over his chest, although the effect was less impressive while he was still holding the bouquet.

A small smile pulled at Pepper's lips. "Tony, I swear I wasn't hiding my daughter from you. Not purposeful- Well, not _vindictively_, like I didn't want you to know that she existed."

"Ha! But it was on purpose."

"The moment I became your PA, I was almost as high profile as you were. Are. I didn't want my child caught up in any of that so I kept it quiet. _And_, may I remind you, she was _across the country_ when I started working for you. It wasn't like the school was going to call me because she'd caught a stomach bug." A memory pulled her mouth in other direction as she muttered, "Not that there weren't days I wished they would."

When Tony didn't immediately have something to say, Pepper focused on him again. "So," she said.

"Tell me about it."

Smiling sadly, she said, "Those flowers still for me? Or have you changed your mind, Mr. Stark."

"What?" Tony jumped. "These? These, these are definitely for you. They look much better here than in my place. Not enough, um, y'know, light or anything."

"Yes, that panoramic view of the Pacific is far too limited for a bouquet of this—Tony, where in the world did you get a bouquet this big?" Pepper asked, coming closer. "How are you _holding_ a bouquet this big?"

"The strength of my love for you?"

Pepper snorted, not at all impressed by either Tony's words or his puppy-dog eyes, as she took the bouquet from him. "Let me rescue these from—"

"Mom?"

Pepper turned toward her daughter, standing at the end of a hall, her expression immediately softening. "Sophie, I—"

"I'm sorry, Mom, excuse me. Excuse me, Mr. Stark-"

"Tony."

"But I'm really pretty beat," she went on, ignoring him, "and kind of starving, and I really didn't mean to come in the middle of, y'know, whatever you guys had planned—"

Pepper approached her daughter. "No, you're fine. There was nothing planned."

"I, uh…" Tony scratched his nose with a stray flower that had fallen out of the bouquet. "I kinda had a plan."

Pepper gave him a look then turned back to her daughter. "It's fine, Sophie."

"No, Mom, really… You're here and alive and without any major injuries seen and unseen?"

Smiling, Pepper nodded.

Sophie's shoulders dropped. "Then I'm good. I'll order from _Rolfe's_, catch up on the sleep I've missed for the last twenty-four hours, and then we can, like, talk when you guys get back." Turning to Tony, she said, "You were going out, right? Although, Mom, this is your house and of course you can have whoever over that you want whenever you want—far be it from me to say otherwise—but if you're going to stay could you not, y'know, do things that are, like, loud and nightmare inducing? Please?"

"Does she breathe?"

Both Potts women ignored Tony. Pepper frowned at her daughter. "Sof."

"What? I'd like to maintain the fiction that you only ever had sex that one time and that you didn't go all the way and that I was actually born in a cabbage patch just like all my favorite childhood dolls. It's a good fiction. Please let me keep it. Please, Mom."

"Wow, and she has excellent puppy-eyes," Tony said to himself. To Pepper, he said, "Is this how you always managed to manage me? You had training? So not fair."

Still ignoring Tony, Pepper's frown deepened. "I love you, but you know you're strange, don't you?"

Sophie beamed at her mother.

"Ah, and now there's the family resemblance." The Potts women turned to Tony, identical frowns on their faces. "And there it is again. I mean, you two do know that you don't look alike, don't you?"

Leaning up, Sophie kissed her mother's cheek. "I see why you like him, Mom. I'm gonna call _Rolfe's_. Want something for later maybe?"

"Sophie! No, wait. You're here, we're going out. Tony's not going anywhere."

"I'm not?" His eager tone was met with yet another frown. He tried the puppy-eyes again.

"Sophie's much better at it than you are, Tony."

"Aw, Mom."

Rolling her eyes, Pepper set the massive bouquet down on the nearest surface with a rustle of paper and cellophane, and followed her daughter back to her room. She'd barely disappeared into the dim hallway before Tony had his phone out. "JARVIS, get me a reservation for three at a restaurant named _Rolfe's._ I'm not sure where it is. Start with locations within five miles of Pep's apartment. And put the reservation under her name."

"_Yes, sir."_

"And look up everything you can find about Sophie Hélène Potts, starting with who her father is."

[in]Fin[ite]

* * *

**AN2**: I've been reading a lot of family!fic for Avengers - single-parents, accidental parents, de-aged, family of choice, etc. - and I noticed that very few of the women were featured as the parent, including a fic of my own that's buried deep (okay not so deep) on my hard drive in which one of the guys discovers that he is a heretofore unknown parent-hijinks-to-follow. But not only were women rarely featured, Pepper never seemed to be the feature. This story came out of that.

In my head there's more story-like the entirety of the lunch/dinner at _Rolfe's_-but I don't know if it will ever make it down on paper. Anywho, I hope you enjoyed this.


	2. I Will Follow 1-2

**Title**: I Will Follow (1/2)  
**Series**: Where You Lead  
**Author**: Vashti  
**Fandom**: Iron Man 2  
**Characters**: Pepper Potts, Tony Stark, OC  
**Rating**: PG  
**Summary**: They eat at Rolfe's. Pepper is embarrassed. Tony is stunned-several times. Sophie is tactile. It's very much a family meal.  
**Length**: ~ 2,470 words  
**Disclaimer**: Only the words are mine, and that's probably up for philosophical debate.  
**Distribution**: Want? Ask.  
**Author's Note**: Written during NaNoWriMo 2013. Mistakes may be more egregious than usual. Please feel free to point them out. Story title still from "Where You Lead" by Carole King.

* * *

"_Mo-om, I'm serious,"_ drifted up the hall towards Tony, still standing in the living room. Since he knew that Pepper had plenty of experience with that particular flavor of whine—to himself, at least, he could admit to using it often—he was sure that she'd get her way eventually. And her way meant lunch, or maybe dinner—which was exactly what Tony had come out to her apartment for—with her daughter, Sophie. Tony hadn't been expecting that.

He pictured the young woman again as he'd seen her when he'd stepped through Pepper's open apartment door, unexpected and unannounced. Mostly it was a picture of Pepper since the girl—too old to be a girl, but there was no way "young woman" was going to be his alt-name for her _in his own head_—had been just about plastered to her side. A few inches shorter than her mother; thick hair, a darker red-brown that was falling out of a messy bun; pasty like her mom; not as slender? Tony frowned. These were the kinds of things he usually noticed within a two minutes of meeting a woman. Of course that woman wasn't usually his nearly-my-girlfriend's adult daughter. And, oh my God, was he scoping his nearly-my-girlfriend's adult daughter?

Tony scrubbed his hands over his eyes, then swung his head around. He needed something to do with his hands. And his eyes. "Yes, my eyes before I have to pull them out and lob them out the window."

"_What was that Tony?"_ Pepper called from, he presumed, her daughter's room.

"Nothing! I—uh, I'm just going to put the flowers in water?"

"_That's sweet. There are vases in the kitchen."_

"Excellent! Great! That is…That is wonderful and perfect."

Unfortunately, Pepper knew that tone, too. _"Tony, are you sure you're okay?"_ Her voice rose as she apparently came closer.

"Fine! Very fine. Just…amazed at how ginormous this bouquet is."

"_Okay. Um, I'll be out in a minute."_

"_Mom, just go! He's obviously waiting for you."_

"_Sophie, really its…"_

Then Tony tuned them out, because he suddenly remembered how he'd thought Pepper and her daughter, whom, in his defense, he hadn't _known_ was her daughter at the time, were a hot lesbian couple about to do hot lesbian things with the door open to random passers-by. Which really should have been the tip-off because no matter what kind of relationship Pepper was in, exhibitionist she was not. But hearing them again without being able to see them brought the image and those first thoughts back, now with surround-sound guilt for checking out the nearly-my-girlfriend's kid who wasn't even a kid _so why was he doing this to himself?!_

"Vase. Where are those vases?" He snatched the bouquet up from where Pepper had left it and made a beeline for the kitchen.

Classic Pepper, he found an entire cabinet below the kitchen island dedicated to vases she'd collected from previous floral arrangements (not a few of them were apologies from him that she'd bought for herself), arranged by height, size of the neck and color. "Holy…"

Tony looked from the vases to the flowers, now lying on the counter. "Holy…" Maybe if he broke it into, like, ten bunches. Okay, maybe just four. Or ten, yes ten could work. He eyed the flowers critically, his engineer's brain flipping on and giving him a coarse measurement of both the bouquet and vases available. Which was why he didn't hear the Potts women returning to the living room, within sight of the kitchen, until a phone started ringing nearby.

"Mom, why is _Rolfe's_ calling me?"

Tony's head shot up from what he was doing at the counter. Pepper and Sophie were facing each other, standing in front of the balcony again—Pepper with her back to Tony and Sophie turned in his general direction—but neither of them were paying him any mind.

He couldn't see it, but Tony could tell Pepper was frowning. She had frown-y shoulders. "Why would _Rolfe's_ call you? Did you place your order already?"

"Not even." Now Sophie was frowning. "Did you call them?"

"No. Why would I? This is strange."

"Should I take the call."

"Yes, before they hang up."

Tony watched as Sophie's face lit up with pleasure when the call connected. "Rolfe!"

He sank out of sight.

"Yes I am in town! …You tried calling Mom? …Oh, well, her phone is probably set on vibrate. But why- Why did we make a reservation?"

There was a longish silence that almost convinced Tony to pop up and see what was going on but he knew a little something about subtlety and self-preservation. Okay, a lot about self-preservation.

"Rolfe, neither me nor Mom made a reservation. …In Mom's name?"

"_I didn't!"_ Pepper whispered.

"_Well if you didn't, who did?"_

Tony silently cursed himself.

"Tony Stark!"

* * *

After some debate they agreed to take Tony's car because, as Sophie pointed out, _"It's not like your car is any less of a sore thumb in that neighborhood, Mom, and if you two have to run to the office for CEO or Iron Man reasons you, Mom, won't feel obligated to drop me off here first."_

"_I like this kid way better than the one you popped up with last week,"_ Tony had said as Sophie climbed into the cramped backseat of his sports car. _"You should definitely keep this one around."_

Rolling her eyes as both of the adult children in her life giggled, Pepper had slid into her own seat. She even managed to only glance back her daughter the one time, to make sure that she was comfortable.

Stopped at the first light beyond Pepper's apartment, Tony cleared his throat. "So, I uh, checked out the route and it's a pretty quick drive, even if we hit all the lights, so if we're going to have that semi-awkward heart to heart in the car the way the family therapists suggest, now would be a good time to start."

"Please stop trying to kill my mother."

A car honking behind them shook Tony out of his shock. "Yeah. Uh, sure. That's…that's totally high on my list of things to do. Like, number one, actually."

"Excellent. Thank you, Mr. Stark. I'm done then. Mom? Your turn?"

A surprised bark of laughter shot out of Tony. "Is she always like this?"

Frowning slightly, Pepper looked at her daughter through the rearview mirror. Her head was down as she surfed her smartphone. "Not in a long time."

That got Sophie's head up. She caught her mother's eyes in the mirror. "Really?"

"Yeah, really."

"Oh." Sophie looked down, fiddling with her phone. When she looked up again she waited until she caught Tony's eyes in the rearview and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Stark. I guess I'm more tired than I thought. I shouldn't have said that to you, not like that. Not at all, probably."

Frowning, Tony took a quick look at Pepper. "What did you do? And thank God you never used this hidden power on me. Imagine all the meetings I would have had to actually sit through."

Lips turned up at the corner, Pepper shook her head. "It's not me. Sof did that all by herself while she was in college."

"Huh?"

"It's a long story."

"_Actually it's a really short story,"_ Sophie muttered.

"And it's Sof's to tell?" She met her daughter's eyes in the mirror.

Who shrugged. "It's going to come out eventually, Mom. Although it'd probably make lunch less awkward if it waited until we got home." Sophie shrugged again. "Up to you."

"Well…" Pepper said, speaking to Tony though they both kept their eyes trained on the road before them. "…my beautiful daughter, whom I love more than myself—"

"I know you do, Mom," Sophie said, correctly guessing that the last had been for her benefit.

"—used to be a snarky, annoying brat."

Tony threw his eyes at Pepper again. "I didn't even know you knew those words."

"Although not all the time, thank God," she went on as if he hadn't interjected, though her cheeks had pinked. "But she could be very rude, very snide and very disrespectful and I had no idea what to do about it. Leaving Iowa helped."

"Yeah, my grandparents totally fostered my brattiness. Sorry, Mom. I know it got nasty sometimes."

"You weren't even six yet. I should have been paying better attention, but the damage had been done. Then Sof went off to college."

Tony raised one hand. "Oh, oh, I know the answer to this one. Magical maturity happened. What, in the form of a nearly fatal alcohol or drug overdose?" Tony dared to glance back at Sophie over his shoulder. "You do know who I am, right kid? That's not really an awkward maker. If your _mom_ had been dancing on tables, yeah. But you?" he said facing the road again.

"Uh, no, I managed not to OD. Although the drinking and weed did happen occasionally."

"So you don't have a perfect kid, Pepper. Until thirty minutes ago I didn't know you had a kid. This doesn't even ping the radar."

Pepper sighed. "Oh if only." Smoothing a hand over her perfect ponytail, she said, "Some time after Christmas and before Spring Break my daughter became…"

"A nudist?"

"A Christian."

Tony snorted. "Yeah right." When no one responded, he turned to Pepper—who was an even brighter shade of red. Then he caught Sophie's eyes in the rearview, where she had clearly been waiting for him. "Seriously?"

"You wanna hear my conversion story?"

"Hell no."

Sophie grinned.

* * *

Tony was still looking at her like a really dangerous bug under glass when they got out of the car. He'd already dropped Pepper off in front of _Rolfe's_ to smooth things over with the man himself. He was miffed that they apparently felt the need to make reservations. Didn't they know he always had a seat reserved for his two best girls?

Getting out of the car, her ponytail whipping about in the steady breeze, she'd left clear instructions for Sophie to direct Tony to a good parking spot—"And I can't put the car in the garage why?"—and get him safely to the restaurant.

Which meant that they'd been left alone together. The parking had gone well enough once Tony got over the distance. The walking back to _Rolfe's_ was…strained.

Suddenly, Tony said, "But you seem so smart. What did you say you were getting your Masters in?"

"Just started, but I'm going for Marine biology with a focus on rivers, lakes, streams and estuaries."

"How could you do this to your poor sainted mother."

Hunched into her jacket, Sophie laughed as the wind tore her hair out of what was left of her bun. She glanced at him. "Does it really bother you that much?"

"No! Of course not. Okay, yes. Maybe. Maybe yes."

"Feeling the awkward?"

"Yes. Very much yes."

"It'll be fine," Sophie promised. After a moment, she said, "Mind if I slip my arm around yours?"

Tony frowned. "What is this, a new way to convert heathens? Touch therapy? Actually, that might be something I can get with," he said, clearly thinking about it.

Sophie laughed again. "No. It's just that this isn't the best neighborhood ever, but people around here still know me and mom. They're less likely to bother you if it's obvious we're together."

"But not impossible."

She shrugged. "Maybe they'll think you're a dirty old man trying to get into my pants and try to protect my honor."

"You sound way too happy saying that."

She laughed again.

"See. Happy. Too much happiness!" But he held out an arm to her anyway. "So why do you think your mom put you on parking duty? Rolfe like her better?"

Sophie shrugged. "I guess so we could have this moment out here instead of at the table. She really does find my conversion…disconcerting at best and embarrassing at middle."

"What, no worst?"

She shuddered, but that might have been the cold. It was probably the cold. "Honestly, she has no idea where she went wrong."

"That makes two of us," he muttered.

"Except instead of making me this crazy proselytizer spouting scripture every two seconds and wearing dresses from my neck to my ankles it's…made me the kid she wish she had for God knows how many years."

"Which is where the comment in the car came from."

Sophie nodded. "My brattier self comes out when I'm really tired or stressed or whatever. I don't think she could take two of us," she added, shooting him a smile.

"I see." A moment later he said, "So you used to live around here?"

"Mmhmm. In the building whose lot you parked in."

"Oh, so, then I guess that makes sense then."

She smiled up at him.

"How long?"

"Um…" Sophie muttered something.

"Aren't you a marine biologist?"

"Biologist! They give us calculators!"

Tony chuckled.

Snorting indelicately, but still coiled around his arm, she said, "We lived here until after I went to college. Mom bought her condo—"

"That's a condo?"

"—about a year after she started working for you, I think, which would have been the beginning of my second year in school."

"Huh."

Shrugging, Sophie said, "Single mom, far from home with a teenager—better known as a walking stomach—we were kinda poor."

"You don't think your mom wants you to maybe _not_ tell me these things?"

She looked up at him. "I'm sure she'll tell you this stuff eventually. Want me to stop?"

"_No_. I'm just saying." They were almost at the last corner before _Rolfe's_ when Tony said, "So, you think your mom is harboring secret hopes that you'll convert me and whatever crazy has warped your formerly excellent sense of humor will rub off on me?"

"Doubtful."

"Oh."

"Although if it did, I don't think she'd be too mad."

Tony frowned down at the young—er, her.

"She doesn't like that I've become a Christian, but she does like the Christian I've become."

Tony was still looking at her when the light changed. She tugged on his arm. "C'mon, this light is fast. We have to cross."


	3. I Will Follow 2-2

**Title**: I Will Follow (2/2)  
**Length**: ~1,840 words  
**Disclaimer**: Only the words are mine, and that's probably up for philosophical debate.  
**Author's Note**: See end.

* * *

Pepper was frowning at them when they came inside. "Sophie."

Coloring, she pulled her arm free of Tony's. He glanced between the two women as Sophie plastered herself to her mother's side. "What? I don't get it."

"Sophie is very..." The Potts women shared a speaking look. "…tactile," Pepper said. "She's very tactile. And you're n—"

"Sure I am!"

Both of them frowned at him. "Even if you were, Tony," Pepper continued, "no one is as tactile as Sof."

Her daughter nodded. "Besides, you're not. You've got _I'd really appreciate it if you keep back at least 3 feet_ written all over you." She shrugged.  
It's okay."

Tony stuck his tongue out. "What do you know about it, mini-Pep?"

Snorting, Sophie held up her hands. "Tactile. Where's Rolfe?" she asked her mother.

"Right here!" A tall, white-haired and heavily bearded man appeared, roaring his approval. "_Mausipupsi!_" He caught Sophie in a bear-hug, pulling her from Pepper's grasp and twirling her around. The startled _Save me!_ expression on Sophie's face was more than worth it in Tony's opinion. Finally Rolfe set her on her feet. "How is my _mausipupsi schnucki spätzchen_? It has been too long!"

Flushed, and now giggling from the extravagant pet names, Sophie could only nod in response as she leaned against the bear-like man. "And who is your friend?"

Pepper reached for Tony's hand and drew him forward, her expression almost as soft as when she looked at her daughter. "This is my friend Tony. He's the one that made the reservation. He didn't know any better," she quickly added as Rolfe began to splutter.

"Well... But if he is a friend of yours...?" He looked between the two women who both nodded. "Then welcome!"

Tony was snatched up into a bear hug, _and being spun around_, before he quite knew what hit him.

"You should sit here, Tony," Pepper murmured when they found reached the booth in the back that had been set aside for them. "And don't take off your jacket until the food arrives. Rolfe keeps it on the cool side in here."

"Hmm?" Tony stopped staring at the wow-there-are-a-lot-of-these decorations to look at Pepper. "Oh...what? Where do you want me to sit? We're sitting, right?"

Pepper chuckled as Sophie slipped past them in the direction of the restrooms. "It's a lot, I know."

"It's like every holiday on Earth vomited on this place." Tony said as he slowly sank into seat facing the back of the establishment. He pulled his attention away from the decorations long enough to see Sophie be swallowed up in the more dimly lit hallway. "At once. And this is your favorite place to go?"

Pepper nodded. "Mostly when Sof's in town. We have fond memories."

"I'd have loved it, too. When I was ten."

Chuckling, Pepper conceded the point.

"So...Christian."

Pepper's smile immediately became a grimace. "I don't...I don't really like to talk about it. You send your kids to college to open them up to new experiences and worldviews. You don't expect them to come back-"

"A hateful, narrow minded cultist?"

The grimace deepened momentarily as Pepper nodded. "Except she really hasn't. Become a hateful narrow-minded cultist, I mean. Not that I can see. But still."

"She said you didn't like that she'd become a Christian but you liked the Christian she'd become."

Pepper smiled softly. She started to speak when a server came by with a basket of rolls, glasses of water, a black coffee and two fancy glass mugs of hot chocolate. When he left, she said, "That's probably the best way to describe it. Like I said, I don't really like to talk about it."

Tony nodded, reaching for the coffee and taking a sip. "Oh my god! This will put hair in places I was really hoping to never have hair. Pepper. Don't do it. Don't drink the coffee. For the love of...science."

Reaching for her hot chocolate, Pepper chuckled.

"Is that why you have hot chocolate? That was completely unfair, Pep, setting me up this way."

"You asked for coffee."

"Yeah, not something to strip the paint off the Mark IV."

Smiling broadly, Pepper licked at the foam in her hot chocolate.

"But, um, to be serious, although obviously not for long since this is me..." Tony stared into the dim hallway, looking for any vaguely female shapes with messy buns coming their way. "...kid, huh?"

Pepper nodded. "Yup."

"And that happened...how?"

"Well, Tony, when two people love each other very much, and sometimes even when they don't, they like to spend lots of time together-"

"Pep."

"I thought I was in love. I thought we were going to get married."

"How _old_ were you? Nineteen?"

"Seventeen?" Pepper shrugged. "We were middle school sweethearts."

Tony stared at her for a long moment, but her serene, matter-of-fact expression never changed. "You're serious."

"I was. _Kyle_ wasn't. But I don't think he knew that until I was pregnant." Her eyes flit over the decorations covering every available surface of the restaurant without landing on anything, and certainly without landing on Tony. "I mean it probably would have fallen apart when we went off to college anyway. Sophie just...bumped up the timetable."

"Why didn't you terminate?"

"I thought about-"

"Excuse me, Mom..."

Tony and Pepper jumped, startled.

"Can you pass me my phone? I left it on the table." Expression and tone very carefully neutral, Sophie was nevertheless pale and shining with a layer of sweat in the cool restaurant. "I almost forgot that I promised I'd call Minnie when I landed. And here I am. Landed."

"Sure, sweetheart."

Sophie took the phone, nodded and hurried away. Swearing, Tony twisted in his seat, watching her go. He swore again. "I'm sorry Pep. I should go-"

"No." She placed her hand on his where it lay flat on the table as he prepared to push himself to his feet. "Don't. Sof... She asked me this a long time ago. Once. And I told her the truth."

"Which was?"

"I thought about it. Too late, almost. I mean, Kyle and I were _supposed_ to get married. That really was our plan and it had been our plan for years. I didn't see the baby, Sophie, as a...a _problem_ or an _issue_. A need to re-think the order of the plan, maybe." Looking down, she drew her hand away from Tony's and fixed the cuff of her blouse. "But never as a bad thing. She was _our_ baby."

"Then the Kyle thing didn't work out."

Gnawing on her lower lip, she shook her head.

"And you changed your mind."

"Or I at least seriously considered changing my mind. I can't honestly say anymore. When we were getting married it was doable. Hard—I wasn't that naive—but doable. But then it became obvious that it _wasn't_ doable for him, not the baby, not _us_, and suddenly me being pregnant wasn't really doable for me either.

"And I thought about it." She shrugged. She rested her chin on her fist.

"But you didn't. Terminate, I mean," Tony said into the silence.

Pepper snorted and rolled her eyes as if he'd made one of his tasteless jokes. "Clearly."

"Regrets?"

"When I was running on six hours of sleep, tops, in a week? Often. Whenever I could think straight. But for the most part, no," Pepper said, slowly shaking her head as a wistful smile pulled at her mouth. "She's the best thing I've ever made..." Looking off to the side, she missed Tony's eyes widen as she unknowingly echoed his father's words. "...the best...the best and longest impromptu meeting I've ever had the pleasure of attending for eighteen years." Sighing, she added, "I missed her so much when she went to New York for college."

Tony studied her for a moment, then said, "So you'd do it all again. If you had a choice."

"No."

"What? No? You're supposed to get soft mom-eyes and say yes! What the hell, Pepper!"

She chuckled. "Not because of Sophie. To have Sophie, I'd do it all again. But to spare her all the crap we went through for _such_ a long time, I'd have wised up sooner and hope that she'd get the dad she deserved." Propping her elbows up on the table, Pepper laced her hands together and rested her chin on them. "It was me and Sof against the world for a long time, Tony. There's a lot I would have done differently if I could change that."

"Huh."

"Yeah."

"So..."

Awkward silence filled the space between them. Pepper let her arms drop and reached for her chocolate, almost all gone. "You know, if you have some place to be, me and Sophie can get back to my place just fine on-"

Tony caught the other side of the glass mug and gently forced her to put it back in its saucer. "No." He shook his head. "You're not letting me off the hook that easy."

Brow arched, Pepper tilted her head to one side. "Is that so, Mr. Stark?"

"Oh you bet, Ms. Potts"

"Well..." A flush began to creep up her neck. "Well, good."

"So that time when you said I was all you had, you were speaking figuratively."

_"Mom!"_

Eyes closed, Tony mentally kicked himself. He opened them and looked up into Sophie's drawn face. "What is with your freakishly bad timing?"

She ignored him in favor of Pepper. "Did you really say that?"

Pepper stood up and gently maneuvered her daughter into the booth. "I did."

_"Mom!"_

"Honey, you're an adult now leading your own life across the country. You said it yourself, eighty-percent of your life is in New York-"

"No, _all_ of my life is here. With you. I just happen to do eighty-percent of my living there."

Pepper frowned at her playfully, tapping the end of her nose. "It's okay to grow up and leave home and have your own life. I actually think you're doing a pretty awesome job."

"Seriously?"

"Mmmhmm. Cults notwithstanding."

A pained expression briefly crossed Sophie's face before she rolled her eyes on another exasperated '_Mom'_ and snugged up close to her mother's side.

"Now if I could only convince you to call more often." Pepper put her arm around her daughter's shoulders.

"Oh, like I can ever get through. I swear we need mother-daughter phones. No one else gets the number."

"Yours will have to be water-proof."

"This is true. Do you know how many phones I've lost to the Hudson and/or the Atlantic this year alone? I swear, I'm going to invent something."

"A phone?"

"Yes. And a homing beacon. Or a retractable belt loop for my waist."

"I think all of those may already exist, sweetheart."

"For poor grad students?"

"Hmm."

The two continued talking, lightly poking fun at each other with no real intention to hurt, until their waiter came.

Tony watched them, fascinated into rare-silence by this woman who, after almost a decade of working with her was more of a mystery now than she'd ever been.

Fin[ite]

* * *

**AN2:** As I mentioned, there was more of this story in my head than what I had written down for "Where You Lead". I didn't know all of _this_ was in there! While I hit all of the plot points I intended to hit, some things became bigger than expected while others didn't resolve themselves until I'd written yet another story. Upside? This is a trilogy. A completed trilogy no less. I hope you enjoyed this one as much as the first.


	4. If You Walk Away

**Title**: If You Walk Away  
**Series**: Where You Lead  
**Author**: Vashti  
**Fandom**: Iron Man 2  
**Characters**: Pepper Potts, Tony Stark, OC  
**Rating**: PG  
**Summary**: Still stunned, Tony hardly knows what offensive question to ask first. So he does it all unintentionally instead.  
**Length**: ~ 3,700 words  
**Disclaimer**: Only the words are mine, and that's probably up for philosophical debate.  
**Distribution**: Want? Ask.  
**Author's Note**: Written during NaNoWriMo 2013. Mistakes may be more egregious than usual. Please feel free to point them out. Story title from "I Will Follow" by U2.

* * *

When the conversation between Pepper and her daughter naturally turned to creating things that would help her with actual fieldwork—not just saving her personal belongings from the watery deep—Tony jumped back into the conversation with both feet. By the time lunch came around, a meat-eater's dream, he and Sophie had their heads bent over a Starkpad surrounded by several napkin's worth of notes and doodles.

"So like this?" Tony said, turning the pad toward Pepper's daughter. "This closer to what you were thinking of?"

Sophie, who had been kneeling up in the bench seat, pulled the Starkpad closer and leaned back, practically sitting in her mother's lap as she did so. "I…think it just might be." Looking up, she flashed Tony a brilliant smile. "This is fantastic, Mr. Stark! I'm scared to ask what the price of even one of these would be, but it would make checking out the Hudson's ever changing riverbed so much more doable. And practical."

"Except for that little price tag issue," Pepper murmured as Sophie handed her the touchpad.

"Lucky for us hopes and dreams are free, Mom."

Tony cleared his throat. "Um, hello? Did you both forget who I am?"

Eyes wide, Sophie turned to her mother. "I thought _you_ knew who he was."

Pepper chuckled and Tony chuffed.

"Look, Mr. Stark—"

"And enough with the 'Mr. Stark'."

Sophie pulled a face, but the food came then, interrupting what she would have said. When the waiter left with a promise of a draft for Tony, Sophie said, "Then what do you want me to call you? Uncle Tony? _Dad?_"

Pepper inhaled sharply, coloring. "Sophie!"

"He knows I'm joking, Mom. Don't you Mr. Stark."

"I hope you are, kid. Doesn't matter, though, because Uncle Tony's out, too."

"Why?"

"It makes me sound like a mob enforcer."

Both women giggled. "What?" he demanded.

Pepper and Sophie shared a speaking look. "Well," Pepper said, speaking for both of them, "you do have the goatee for it." Sophie dissolved into further giggles, leaning heavily against her mother.

"What's wrong with just 'Tony'?"

Reigning in her giggles, Sophie shook her head. "You're my mom's…" She looked between them. "You're her guy. And even if you weren't, you're kind of her boss. Sort of. I mean, you own the company even if she does run it. It's not polite."

Tony frowned. "More of this being-a-Christian-makes-me-politer-than-thou crap?"

Sophie visibly flinched, her smile wavering only a little. "More like my inner Iowa coming out." Reaching her for her fork, she half-turned to her mother. "What'd you get?"

But Pepper was frowning at Tony. "It's not like Sof was always a snide terrible child before she became a…you know." She waved her free hand in a vague manner. "That's why it was so troubling when she was. My sweet girl would be replaced with…with…"

"With Grandma," Sophie muttered, viciously stabbing her food. She looked up at her mother. "I'm sorry."

Pepper cupped her chin, caressing Sophie's cheek with her thumb. "You don't always have to apologize. The past is behind us and you're different now."

"I still feel bad, though. You're my mom. My favorite mom. It's what I always tell everyone."

Humming, Pepper gave her cheek one last affectionate swipe then turned to her food. Sophie seemed to cling even closer.

Pointing at them with his fork, Tony said, "I'd just like to put it out there that you two are really weird and I no longer feel any guilt for thinking you had a thing going on."

Smiling, Pepper rolled her eyes as Sophie chuckled, her eyes flicking between Tony, her mother and her food.

* * *

Tony and Sophie silently watched as Pepper left the table for the restroom. "So your mom does use the facilities."

Sophie turned, eyebrows raised. "Huh?"

"I'm not sure I've ever seen your mom go to the restroom before."

Sophie smiled and shook her head as she reached for her glass of water. Tony mirrored the action, but didn't drink. Instead he waited until she was to say, "So, grandparents were total d—uh, that is…"

Giggling, Sophie nearly choked on her water as Tony searched for a word that was both offensive and not crude. She set her water down hard and snatched up her napkin. After a moment she said, "Pretty much whatever you're thinking is an accurate statement of how my grandparents are. At least towards Mom. Both sets, I should add, though the paternal old people got better faster."

"And the maternal?"

Sophie coughed into her napkin again. "Well, Mom took their grandbaby from them before they could completely brainwash me, so it took them a while."

"They must have been happy with the whole Christian thing."

"Not when they realized that it totally foiled the whole brainwashing thing." Shrugging, she said, "They got over it, I guess."

Tony's eyebrows shot up. "You guess?"

Sophie shrugged again, blushing. "I've found that the best way to love them is from afar. This way they can be overly and ridiculously critical of Mom, and I can pretend I don't know how hypocritical they are."

Tony leaned forward on his elbows, chin cupped in his upturned palms. "Do tell."

Instead of retreating, Sophie matched his pose. For a moment, Tony was surprised until he remembered: tactile. "Just your usual double-standard," she said. "Everyone really expected her and Dad to get married, but then when she got pregnant with me and Dad tucked tail and ran, it suddenly became her fault that he was a loser coward to afraid to take responsibility for himself."

Despite the friendly pose, Sophie's face was flushed, and Tony didn't think it had anything to do with the hot plates of food they were hovering over. "Hey, kid, I'm sorry."

She flashed him a smile. "What for? It's not like you did it. And I gave up on him a long time ago."

"Sure you did, kid," Tony dropped his arms to briefly cup one of her hands in his. His hand was wide enough to brush red-brown hair off her cheek. When he pulled it away, he politely dropped a fork under the table so she could have a moment to wipe the tears beginning to form in her eyes.

* * *

Riding back to Pepper's apartment with Sophie passed out in the backseat, Tony figured it was as good a time as any to ask his likely inappropriate questions. If only he could think of any.

"So you never did marry," was the best he could do on still-shocked-out-of-his-skull short notice.

Pepper shook her head. "Nope."

"Dated, I'm sure."

"A few times."

"And none of them…"

Shrugging, Pepper said, "It's different when you have a child, Tony. Or it should be. He couldn't just be good for me, he had to be good for Sof, too."

"Yeah, I can—I can definitely see that. Who, by the way, you have obviously done an awesome job raising."

Pepper snorted. "You've only known my daughter for, what, not even six hours?"

Tony glanced at her. "Pep. Please. You've done a pretty good job of raising _me_, and you haven't had nearly as much time to work on me. Plus, you know, there are some flaws in the craftsmanship."

"Tony…"

"So obviously, given the raw materials and optimum time, you must have done an awesome job with your actual kid."

"Well, I had quite a bit of help but…but thank you. That means…" She took a deep breath. "That means a lot, actually." He couldn't see it, but Tony heard her soft smile.

* * *

"She likes you, you know," Pepper said as she pressed the elevator button. "Threats and admonitions about my safety notwithstanding."

Grunting softly, Tony adjusted his grip on the more or less sleeping-on-her-feet Sophie. "Yeah, what makes you think that?"

She came to stand beside them. "I know I said my daughter's tactile but she's actually very particular."

Tony's eyebrows climbed. "I am disinclined to agree, Ms. Potts."

"No, really." But Pepper was chuckling softly, remembering how he had walked into _Rolfe's_ with her daughter attached to his arm like a happy leech. Composing herself she said, "Sof used to have a bad habit of getting lost in stores by hiding in the clothing racks. And there was an incident when she was younger. To this day I'm not sure if this couple was trying to help her find her family or if they were going to steal her. I mean, we were in Iowa after all. But I totally flipped out when I saw them walking away with her."

"I'm…sorry?"

A smile flickered over Pepper's face. "I may have been too hard on Sof at the time. She was still a little girl. Not even six yet, I think. And her father was…not always good at showing affection, or receiving it."

Pepper smoothed a stray hair from her daughter's forehead. "Sof…Sophie, honey, we're going upstairs now."

"Mom?" Coming awake slowly, Sophie ran her hand down Tony's supporting arm and jerked away. "Oh, Carlo…" she murmured, blinking rapidly, but still obviously disoriented as she clumsily tried to move away from the arm holding her up.

"No, sweetheart, it's Tony?"

"You have a new doorman?" her voice was plaintive as she struggled with wakefulness.

Pepper smiled. "Mr. Stark."

"_Oh."_ And she relaxed. "He's nice."

Pepper gave him a look as if to say, _See, I told you so._

"Shorter than I…than… Smells good, though."

Tony frowned as Pepper laughed quietly.

"Very barrel-y."

Pepper laughed again as the elevator doors opened.

* * *

"Where do you want this thing, ma'am?"

Pepper frowned, but Tony could see the way she was fighting not to smile. Even Sophie, still more or less sleeping on her feet, chuffed before trying to turn over in his arms. Shaking her head, Pepper said, "She was a squirmy baby, too. You're lucky she hasn't tried to nuzzle you."

"Ew!"

Pepper laughed.

Regaining his composure, Tony struck a more refined pose. "I'm a one-woman nuzzlee."

Pepper's eyebrows climbed. "Is that so, Mr. Stark? Since when."

"You know when, Pep."

She smiled. "You can put Sophie in my room. It's closer and I'm sure she's heavy."

"Uh, I don't think this one is totally knocked out and if anyone knows better than to call a woman 'heavy' when she's in earshot…" He raised a hand, pointing at himself.

"Over there, Mr. Stark," Pepper said, rolling her eyes.

"Yes, ma'am. Although this isn't the way I was hoping to see your bedroom, with your kid in tow. I'm surprised you don't think such things are inappropriate for young eyes."

Pepper didn't even bother to respond, going to the kitchen instead. Her longsuffering smile was enough for Tony, though. "I'm telling the truth though, kid, this is _not_ how I expected to end up in your Mom's bedroom."

Sophie whimpered in protest.

"Oh, yeah, that's right. You had that happy fiction thing going on. Yeah, sorry to spoil that for you, kid. Well, not today apparently but—"

Sophie whimpered again, vaguely batting at Tony's arms. Or maybe she was trying to hit him. It was hard to tell. Soon, though, Tony had her jacket and shoes off, and Sophie under the light coverlet he found at the foot of the bed.

Crouched by the side of the bed, Tony said, "Gotta admit, I don't have much experience leaving pretty young twenty-somethings in bed, but you make it easy, kid."

She chuffed, eyes cracking open. "Gross."

Tony grinned. "I hear I'm pretty hot, actually."

"Very gross."

He chuckled, rising to leave.

Sophie grabbed his pant-leg in a surprisingly firm grip. Brows knitting together, Tony crouched by her side again. "What's up?"

"Middle name's not Helene. Double-first, no hyphen. Mom was…" A wide yawn split her face. "Sorry."

Waving a hand in front of his nose, Tony agreed.

"Mom was being nice."

"I know.

Sophie's brow wrinkled and she struggled to sit up. "Huh?"

"I know a lot about you, Sophie Helene Kylie Potts." Tony gently maneuvered her back onto the mattress.

"How?"

"AI. Now get some rest, kid, or your mom'll hurt me." When it looked like she wasn't going to listen, he said, "Ask me tomorrow and I'll give you the full monty but, y'know, without the monty. Then your mom'd really kill me."

Nodding, Sophie rubbed her forehead. In a moment she was fully asleep, turning over to face away from the light coming through the open bedroom door.

* * *

"So," Tony said as he sat down at the kitchen island. He promptly stood up again to move several flower vases aside. It was either that or stand. "So that was a really massive bouquet."

Pepper laughed. "It really was."

"I thought it might smooth things over with you more quickly if I had flowers."

"And the more flowers you had the smoother things would go."

"Something like that."

Smiling softly, Pepper leaned her elbows on the kitchen island with her chin cupped in her palms, just as Tony and Sophie had done hours earlier. "Why Mr. Stark, don't tell me you're actually nervous around a beautiful woman."

"So you admit to knowing that you're absolutely gorgeous."

Pepper's smile grew mischievous. She nibbled at her lower lip. "Well..."

"How in the world did Kyle not see this? How did he let you go?" Pepper blushed, but Tony plowed on. "But, you know, one good thing came out of it?"

"Sophie."

"No! I mean, yeah sure. Kids, woo!"

Pepper chuckled.

"But you could have been Pepper Heinitz! You could have been named after a ketchup bottle, Pep. Imagine what that would have done to poor Sophie's self-"

"How...how did you know Kyle's last name?"

Tony's eyes widened. "Um..."

"Did you have JARVIS look him up?" Pepper was suddenly standing, tall, straight and ticked off.

"Well..."

"Tony!"

"What! What's wrong with scoping out the competition?"

Frustrated, she spun around and went back to her coffee making.

Tony, watching her for a moment, eventually said, "Uh, I think I've had enough coffee. Remember the hair in strange places."

Pepper spun around again, her ponytail whipping from one side of her neck to the other. "You don't get to decide, Tony."

"What I drink?"

"What information you can or can't have about me!"

"That was supposed to be obvious?"

Pepper growled.

Shaking his head, Tony raked his hands through his hair. "Look, Pep, I wasn't...trying to pry. Okay, yes, maybe I was a little. But, in those, what, three minutes when I found out you had a kid I realized I know _nothing_ about you. And you've been my PA for, what, six years? Seven years? _Eight years?_

"Wait, if you've been my assistant for eight years and Sophie's twenty-two, how could she have been on the East Coast when you started working for me?"

There was a beat. Then: "I lied."

"You what?"

"I lied." She threw her hands up. "I lied!"

"But Sof said-"

"You do not get to call her Sof right now."

Tony narrowed his eyes, but started again, "Sophie said you didn't get this place until her second year of college. Does somebody need to go to confessional with Mommy dearest?"

"Sophie, however, is a compulsive truth-teller. We lived near _Rolfe's_ until after she got into college."

"Excuse me if I'm wrong, but I pay you an exorbitant salary-"

"Which I deserve."

"—which you richly deserve. But still...five years-"

"Four years."

"Four years?"

Pepper tugged on the end of her ponytail. "Sophie's birthday is late in the year and she's a rather bright girl. She started college a year younger than her peers."

"Oh."

Pepper shrugged.

"So, what was I ranting about?" Tony rubbed at the arc reactor. Funny how it had _not_ been bothering him all day.

"You wanted to know where all the money went."

"Yeah. That. So-"

"Bills, Tony. Do you know how hard it is to get a degree on your own when you have a small child who constantly needs things. Because that's what children do, Tony. They need things all the time. Do you have any idea how _expensive_ it is? The degree? The kid? Rent. Clothes—my God, Tony, you have no idea how fast kids go through clothes. And food! They're walking stomachs until they hit twenty or something."

Pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes, Pepper said, "Even with my richly deserved exorbitant salary, it still took me four years to pay off my student debt, my credit card debt and have enough saved up to buy this condo."

"But you always looked really hot."

A surprised snort of laughter escaped her. Pepper pulled her hands from her eyes. "Yes, even with careful shopping at the better Goodwill stores, my discretionary spending slowed me down quite a bit."

They stared at each other for a long time, the only sounds between them the electric hum of the central air and a distant ticking clock. Pepper had never actually turned on the coffee machine.

"I'm sorry, Pep."

She shook her head. "You weren't the one who abandoned me at seventeen with a baby on the way. You weren't the one not living up to your responsibilities. Playboy though you were, every two weeks I got my paycheck without a penny missing. That's better than Kyle ever managed."

"Did he ever-"

"No."

"Did you ever-"

Her head-shake cut him off the second time. "I probably should have. There were times when we really, really needed the money. Thank God it was a pre-cell phones for a while when she was little. I didn't want to go through it, though, the ugly court battles, weird custody rules. We'd grown up in the same town all our lives. _He_ was the one who left first. If he wanted to find me, hell if he wants to find me now, neither of our parents have moved. They know where I live. I didn't..." She stopped, bringing her fingers to her forehead as she composed herself.

"If he didn't love me anymore that was...that was terrible. But if he suddenly decided he didn't love Sophie anymore, I didn't know how I could ever make it up to her. So I never hid. I never did anything to put walls between him and his daughter. She spent as much time with his parents as she did with mine. But he never really seemed to care."

"I'm sorry, Pep."

Her smile wan, Pepper still reached out to take Tony's hand. "Don't be. I got our amazing daughter all to myself. He's the one that missed out."

Smile melting away entirely, she pulled back from Tony, though she didn't release his hand. "But the next time you want to know something about me or my daughter or my past, you ask me first Tony. Okay."

"Okay."

"You've got it?"

He crossed his heart with his other hand. "Got it."

Pepper sighed. "Okay."

* * *

Though it was still light out, despite the hour, Pepper's room was cool and dim. The central air explained the coolness. Her drawn shades explained the dark.

Pepper glided in, stepping out of her shoes with quiet, practiced motions. She pulled her ponytail holder out of her hair, sighing as the pressure was released. She left the rest of her clothes on. There were still things to do even if she was, ostensibly, on leave following the incident with Justin Hammer. Life was rarely simple or peaceful in the world of Stark Industries. Becoming its CEO had done nothing at all to diminish that.

Still, she had a few minutes, maybe even half an hour, to do simply this: lie beside her sleeping daughter and watch her breathe. When Sophie had been an infant, she'd done it for hours, amazed at the life she'd helped to create. When Sophie had been a toddler, she could only manage a few exhausted minutes to marvel that her rambunctious, dynamic, outgoing, adventurous daughter actually had an off-switch. By the time Sophie was old enough to feel self-conscious about her mother doing such things, Pepper had been working at SI. For a year or two, they were like ships passing in the night, their schedules blending for brief half-hour periods on any given day, including weekends.

Then Sophie had gone off to college. On the East Coast. For the first time in years, Pepper slept completely alone. Though she felt silly about it in the mornings, she cried herself to sleep the first week Sophie was gone, plunged back into a lonely despair she hadn't felt since she'd realized that Kyle wasn't going to step up and take responsibility for the life they'd made. Another person who should have stayed, who should have loved her—_me and Sophie against the world—_had walked away.

But morning pep talks in the mirror, a busy schedule, frequent phone calls with Sof (giddy, anxious, fearful, hopeful, excited and sometimes teary-eyed phone calls) and sheer time blunted the edges of her loneliness until she was more or less herself again. It helped that taking care of Tony was almost as much of a full-time job as being a parent, if more frustrating.

Pepper remembered the first time Sophie had come home to the new place, the new "apartment", though it was really a condo, how excited she'd been to finally have her own room—and how she'd crawled in with Pepper sometime around midnight complaining that she couldn't sleep.

Pepper knew that Sophie would spend most of the week in her own bed, that this brief moment in the soft light wouldn't last. She treasured it all the more.

Reaching across the distance, she leaned in close as she gently carded her daughter's hair away from her face. "My sweet girl."

Kissing Sophie's forehead, Pepper closed her eyes and slept.

[in]Fin[ite]

* * *

**AN2**: That's it folks. There are thoughts in my head, but they are much vaguer than these stories were-more like scenes. Anywho, I hope you've enjoyed this. It grew into something much bigger than I originally foresaw.


End file.
